TravelStream™ news feed for member nzgreenie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/nzgreenie en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 05 May 2008 10:31:09 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209811440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209811440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209811440/tpod.html Mon, 05 May 2008 10:31:09 -0400 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Inle Lake, Inle Lake, Myanmar

(to see all the Kalaw to Inle Lake photos, click here)

Surely the last thing you'd expect in the mountains of Myanmar as you step off a rickety cramped local bus where you've spent the last 12 hours perched sideways into the walkway because your legs can't get behind the seat, is a "g'day mate" from the welcoming party. But here stands Percy, an Australian born retiree who for the last decade who has made his home in the small trekking town of Kalaw, greeting me as I stretch out and try to put my stomach back where it belongs, it having risen to my throat (and nearly beyond) over the course of the journey's final four hours on a slow, incredibly windy ascending stretch of road that leads to this place in the highlands. "Ya didn't bring a meat pie with ya mate?" he asks in jest. "I really could do with one of those. Tell ya mates if they come here could they bring me one?". So note, if you do go to Kalaw, you have been asked. But even if you don't he'd love to see you; his house which is very close to the only petrol station in town, at its edge...just ask around there and someone will take you to it.

Percy married a Burmese woman some time ago, and chose to make his home here where the climate is more moderate for his "retired bones" than Yangon . He's the first to testify that the Burmese Junta almost never let anyone who doesn't work for an embassy stay for very long - it's only in the last few years you could travel in the country for more than 2 weeks - but somehow, keeping his head down, he's managed to secure permission to remain here for so long. After settling in my hotel and arranging a guide for the three day trek to Inle Lake, I come back for the evening and over several beers he provides an incredibly useful perspective on a number of questions I have about the country and its - shall we say - "difficult" politics.

In the morning I begin the three day hike to Inle Lake through the local hill tribes. It's just me and my guide, Paye; a search through the town for company the afternoon before reveals - like much of the rest of the country - I am the pretty much only traveller about. The next few days are spent walking up and down hills, passing through farm fields and villages of the Karen people and their tribes, eating locally cooked breakfasts, lunches and dinners and supping on copious amounts of green tea.

This part of the world is truly medieval - there's no running water or electricity in the thatched two-storey houses that make up each village, and the only transportation used to get around is the ox-cart; drivers and family are a regular sight coming the other way, perched precariously on a flat deck that see-saws along the deep worn grooves of the dusty roads. My evenings are spent at local monasteries, the teak solid-wood floors being hard to sleep on, but for no extra charge include being awoken at 6am to the chanting of the young monks just metres away on the other side of the room. Surely, there is no better alarm clock.

The final afternoon, I arrive exhausted at Indein, a town near the shore of Lake Inle. Here, further Stupas that date from a similar period of Bagan cluster a the top of a pathway at Shwe In Thein. Though some have been unlovingly restored in a bid by some of the richer Burmese (read: Military) in a bid for favour in the afterlife, others appear untouched for centuries and their weather-beaten exterior makes for a magnificent afternoon exploration, despite my exhaustion from the three-day hike.

Eventually we make it to a pre-arranged boat to take a ride across the lake. The long dinghy winds me and Paye quickly through a river and into the marshes at the lake's edge, before bursting out onto open-surfaced water. We are now on a spectacular shallow lake lined all around the edges by jagged mountains. As we quickly race along, I can see scores of fishermen working together on the lake by slapping the water with long poles, herding the catch into their nets to take home to houses in the distance that rest above the water on poles driven into the lake bed. We finally arrive at Nyaungshwe and I say thanks and goodbye to Paye.

The next morning I make a trip to the local market for some last-minute gift-shopping, before heading to the airport. I am deeply saddened at having to leave this country. But this, the last stop on my travels of the last 4 months, was just amazing and I will be back to Myanmar, of this I'm sure.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203593040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203593040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203593040/tpod.html Sun, 04 May 2008 05:37:41 -0400 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Bagan, Bagan, Myanmar

(to see all the Bagan photos, click here)

The red dry-season dust from the plains of central Myanmar gets kicked up by the kilo off the hooves of the horse carts - the only practical way to get around in this part of the country - and can easily get lodged in the back of your throat. But that's not the reason I'm gasping, having just emerged from a short two-storey climb up a set of ancient brick stairs, arriving on the rooftop of this ancient temple to take my first gaze at its 4,000-plus cousins that scatter an open plain less than the size of New York's Manhattan island. I can't stop the "wow"s falling out of my mouth as I take in the view.

Several pagodas tower above the desert surface at up to a hundred metres, with many more are just one or two storeys high, but all of them rise up as if a giant mole from a b-grade horror movie has been doing some serious business underneath the Myingyan plain. It's not a mole though - these pagodas that date to circa 11th century were feverishly built in a relatively short space of time at the instruction of converted kings at this birth of Burmese Buddhism, as it replaced Hinduism in Myanmar to become the now de rigueur religion.

I skip the standard horse-cart option for one of the two days I'm here, opting for a rickety old bicycle to get me around the plain. It barely survives on the pot-holed roads and regularly grinds to a halt in dusty dry ground when I try to push it through the dirt-paths to some of the more out-of-the-way temples. But this approach is worth it - at times it feels as though I'm the first person in a millennia to enter these pagodas, many appearing untouched, still decorated inside with the thousand-year-old wall-paintings depicting famous moments in the life of Buddha.

Later that afternoon my explorations lead me to a roadside café where I order a Star Cola to relax. I get chatting with the owner and his wife and son for just a short while, and as I'm about to leave he out-of-the-blue insists I return after sunset for dinner. It's an invitation I cannot refuse, but first I am guided by another Burmese boy to the place he swears is the best to see the sunset - all he asks is that I look at his paintings when we get there.

You can climb the outside of some of the larger temples for the "best" view, but as these attract the most people, unless your thing is being pestered by children peddling postcards the entire time, I'd recommend only visiting those during the day - a further incentive of this being that they are often totally deserted until an hour before the sun goes down. My new friend and I settle on the second temple he takes me to as there are two many people at his first choice (that's not a misspell, there were two people) and climb the tiny inner stairwell for the view on top. Sitting here as dusk descends across the plain, a bottle of beer in hand and watching the sun disappear behind the mountain range in the distance, I feel like I'm the only person in the world. Well, at least I would have done if he didn't keep asking me to look at his paintings! I end up buying a couple as they are very good depictions, sketched straight from the walls of one of the temples.

Dinner that evening back at the café is an awkward feast. I'm served a selection of what must be close to the entire menu of the restaurant, with chicken, beef, fish and vegetarian dishes covering the table. It takes me a few moments to establish that this is all just for me, and he and his family watch me eat with magnificent smiles on their faces, having had dinner themselves before I arrived. I'm not used to this hospitality and in particular having an audience when eating, and I wonder in a country impoverished as this just how much such glorious generosity will cost him. I had brought with me a wooden chess set as a gift for his son, and feel guilty that this, plus some conversations with his 11-year-old son about him aspiring to be aeronautical engineer is all it cost me.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209808380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209808380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1209808380/tpod.html Sat, 03 May 2008 08:27:27 -0400 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Mandalay, Myanmar

(to see all the Mandalay photos, click here)

One of the first things you notice about the people of Myanmar is the pale-yellow mud-packs they wear on their faces. The second thing you notice, immediately afterward, is the smile they always wear underneath. People here are always smiling, which considering what they've been through in the last half-century of violent military rule and the ongoing poverty that accompanies it, is hard to understand. Someone explained to me it's probably the "Oriental smile" - a tradition in Myanmar of masking hurt and embarrassment regardless of circumstance. But I sense it's more than that though. These are a wonderful, friendly people who give me none of the harassment seen elsewhere in South-East Asia and because of this, slowly, I am falling in love with this country.

In Mandalay I spend a lot of time chatting to many locals - some simply keen to practice English, others soliciting me for a ride in their tri-shaw, and all with a heavy story about their living conditions. One, Jo, tells me about having come to Mandalay from his village to work and send money home to his family; he stays awake for 10 hours every night as a security guard for 30,000 Kyat (US$25) a month and shares a tri-shaw with his friend by day, making about half that again. He doesn't rent a room in Mandalay to live - no need, he says - sleeping for just a couple of hours on the seat of the tri-shaw when business is slow.

And it's slow these days in Mandalay , as with the rest of the country. It's obvious from the half-empty guest-houses and street corners crowded with bored-looking tri-shaw drivers that the uprising in September 2007 - where a rebellion over an increase in the government-regulated price for rice was brutally crushed - has scared off many of the relatively few tourists did used to come here. Another driver I met, Hasem, has a wife and seven children who he used to be able to feed on 4000 Kyat a day from his tri-shaw business; now on a good day he makes half that, and still has to pay the daily tri-shaw rental fee of 500 Kyat. Needless to say, I started to tip rather heavily whenever I used the services of local drivers and guides.

Mandalay is a former capital of Myanmar , itself surrounded by the sites of former capital sites of centuries past. The city is dusty and run-down, the worn streets covered in cracks and potholes and the buildings clearly having seen better days but it has a few good places to visit. One such is the Mahamuni Pagoda (temple), with its 4 metre Buddha originally cast in bronze but now covered in gold leaf of so many layers over the decades that it bubbles out - about 15 centimetres. Also worthwhile is half-day hike up Mandalay Hill for the great view across the city. Less so is the massive historical fort in the centre, which in the late 90s was reconstructed by the Government using the forced labour of its citizens and for the principled traveller best avoided.

The old capitals and Pagodas around Mandalay have the best attractions, including the world's longest teak-bridge. It's about 30 minutes away by taxi at Amarapura, where you can view a stunning golden-orange sunset over the lake. Nearby and along the Areyarwady river is Sagaing Hill which is covered in 500 bell-shaped stupas, and provides more grand views across Mandalay State .

There is plenty more for me to see here, but it was at this point that the dreaded travel bug struck me down with a heavy fervour and I lost a day being stuck in my room at the Peacock Lodge, unable to venture more than a few metres from the toilet. It was bound to happen I know, but after nearly 2 months in Asia and having largely avoided it, I was disappointed to have to lose precious sight-seeing time with just over a week to go, and especially in this country. Luckily though, the following day was a beautiful boat cruise down the Areyarwady to Bagan, and there obviously being a toilet on board, I ended up not losing too much travel time because of the bug!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203154980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203154980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203154980/tpod.html Sat, 03 May 2008 05:38:38 -0400 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Yangon (Rangoon), Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar

(to see all the Yangon photos, click here)

I stumble out of a taxi a couple of minutes short of 5 o'clock on Saturday morning. Raising my head, I stare up a seemingly never-ending set of steps upwards, snaking underneath a long verandah and painted in amber floodlight. Shutting the car door, the driver pulls away, leaving me standing alone at the base of Yangon 's most famous landmark with no one else to be seen and I wonder for a moment if I've arrived too early.

I'm here at the insistence of the Bangkok travel agent who sold me my plane tickets, and swore the best, the only time to visit the Shwedagon Paya was at dawn; partly because of health recommendations against walking in the required bare feet across a tiled open-air ground that could fry an egg in the afternoon sun; partly because it often takes an ungodly hour to see a spiritual site without the crowds, but also because she tells me a combination of this temple and the dawn light is nothing short of jaw-dropping. In fact for no extra charge, this agent marched into the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok to personally retrieve my passport back a day earlier than it was due, just so I could catch the Friday afternoon flight and stand here at this hour.

I ascend the long set of steps of Singutara Hill and my first sight at the top is the huge towering zedi, a massive bell-shaped structure 100 metres tall and completely covered in gold leaf. It's utterly breathtaking. At its base to the front, a half-dozen worshippers crowd in a small temple, and all the way surrounding the zedi I can see dozens of smaller stupas of similar shape to the zedi also covered completely in gold-leaf, encircling it in two rows.
Walking clockwise around the base of the zedi, more local worshipers and monks arrive, taking their place in front of any one of scores of Buddha statues either in front of the tall structure or inside one of the many small temples around it. Their legs are crossed and their eyes are closed deep in a trance-like prayer; all are completely ignoring me. It feels as if I've stepped into a Hollywood movie set of yesteryear but despite my out-of-place presence, no one has called a halt to the action.

And then slowly the amber flood-light that bathes the gold-leaf gives way to the first dawn rays. The sky goes from a punctured black to deep blue and far off to the south, the glow of the morning sun pushes over the edge of the horizon and turns the colour of the gold-covered stupas into their more natural sparkling yellow gleam. More people arrive, and the open air gradually becomes completely filled with the sounds of monks and lay-worshippers chanting. The atmosphere of sight and sound is so intense I have to sit down for a while to take it all in; goosebumps that have nothing to do with temperature are covering my arms. As it becomes lighter, the colours change shade again and again, until the sun is fully over the horizon and the morning light fully takes hold, bathing this amazing landmark in its full glory.

Later, as I go to leave by making my way down the stairs I ascended three hours ago, I pass a Chinese photographer who's just arrived, the first other tourist I've seen that morning. I'm sure the Swedagon Paya makes for a pretty picture at any time of the day, but I feel utterly blessed having just been through an unforgettable early morning experience, and a dazzling introduction to Myanmar .

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202883480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202883480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202883480/tpod.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:36:06 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Certainly Vietnam's most developed city, Ho Chi Minh is a high-rise contrast to much of the rest of the country, although perhaps less so with each passing year as the North catches up to the wealth in the south. I'm only here for a day or so as the same travel agency in Hanoi that ripped me off also told me incorrectly that there was a Myanmar embassy office here where I could get a visa, so I have booked a cheap flight back to Bangkok to sort that out. It means skipping out Cambodia this time round, but that's probably for the best as if there's one thing I've learned on this trip (aside from never trust a travel agent) it's that you should spend a lot of time in a few places to have the most fun.

Much of the sight-seeing to be had in Ho Chi Minh and around centres on the American war. The War Remnants Museum has a number of restored American aircraft, tanks and weaponry on display as well as a powerful photo exhibition, and you can go into the nearby Reunification Palace which was infamous as the symbol of the end of the war, with the tank that was filmed on newsreel crashing through the fence on display outside. Though perhaps the most disturbing reminder of the war here can be seen on the streets, where you'll find beggars with ugly birth defects caused by Agent Orange.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202710440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202710440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202710440/tpod.html Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:26:34 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Nga Trang, Vietnam

It's good to feel the sun on my face again, even if it's not exactly back the balmy temperatures of the sub-tropics yet. Vietnam's North and South have entirely different climates with the North getting the standard four seasons, the south just the rainy and hot. Nga Trang is a pretty cool beach town with a few islands to hop about on and some hot mud springs and probably the cheapest place in Asia to get your Padi dive, if you're looking for somewhere to do that.

My new travelling companion from the bus is Brittany, another from Canada (they seem to be everywhere in this part of the world...I hope the last Canadian to leave there for the winter turned out the lights). We arrive after the overnight bus a little tired and discover most of the town is full because of the Tet new year - this is THE place for Vietnamese and Chinese to holiday and we should have booked ahead. It takes a while, but arriving so early because of the overnight bus we are fortunate to eventually secure a pad, and head for the beach - though the surf is heavy and the sand is coarse and the entire time we're there we're pestered by locals who want us to pose with their children in photos. Some are downright rude about the whole thing. It's the first time I've come across it but Brittany, who worked a month at an orphanage in Cambodia before spending a week in Vietnam says it's been a common theme throughout her time in this part of the world. At night we dine and down a bottle of weapons grade medicinal compound from the Dalat region beautifully called Romantic Red Wine - get it for the kitch name, but not the taste I assure you!

We sign up for one of the many day trips out to the islands, and the next day we head out on "Boat Trip No. 4." The day packs in a lot and is really recommended, especially if you use this company to do it - others I spoke to had not nearly so much. As well as visiting 4 of the islands, there's some pretty neat snorkeling despite the cold ocean (though bring your own if you can as the ones provided are cheapies) and after lunch you can dive into the water and swim out to their floating bar, and drink as much of that same wine as you can stammer before the cold (or the burning in your throat) get too much.

In the evening the crew increases to five and we all head to the hot mud baths for a good ol' body pack down. This place is just outside town and you'll need a taxi to get there but was plenty of fun; after 15 minutes soaking in the mud it ends with a good 45 minutes in a hot bath. For dinner we head to one of the seafood street stalls near the beach for some damned delicious saltwater crayfish at a dirt-cheap $12 a kilogram, before finishing up at one of the local bars.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202451120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202451120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202451120/tpod.html Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:49:56 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Hoi An, Vietnam

I've been lucky enough to be in Vietnam for Tet, their equivalent of the Chinese New Year, and the evening of 6th February is spent wandering the old town before catching the midnight fireworks. For such a small town, the 20 minute fireworks standing amongst people sitting on their parked scooters would rival London's annual effort - but the highlight was walking through the streets where the Vietnamese place their offerings to their ancestors for the few hours before midnight until just after, and the scores of people burning paper money in tins sitting in the gutter.
Hoi An's as famous for tailors as it is for it's history these days, and anyone who's leisurely wandering down the coast of Vietnam would do well to stop here for either or both of these reasons. It was a seaside trading town for several centuries, and the town centre is now protected in its entirety as a world heritage site. You're supposed to pay for the privilege of just being there though unless you want to go into some of the historic buildings you can avoid the 75,000 dong (US$5) fee. The ancient temple ruins nearby at My Son, dating from the 4th to the 15th century used to comprise more than 70 buildings, but the Viet Cong's keenness to hide there during the war saw America drop several bomb loads on the area and only 28 remain. Nonetheless it's a very worthwhile half-day trip with a boat ride back; you could do the 5am start to avoid the crowds completely, though the 8am one I was on wasn't too bad for people pollution.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203055620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203055620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1203055620/tpod.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:36:07 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Hue, Vietnam

I've discovered decent overnight travel and as far as I can from now on, I'll stick to it. The train cabins on the journey south from Hanoi are very comfortable -I actually fit into the bed, which makes a change from the last time I did an overnight journey on an awful bus to Bangkok - and it frees up the days either side to fit more in, which with only three weeks left now, I pick up the pace to see as much of Vietnam and take in one more country before I leave.

Hue is most famous as the political capital of Vietnam from the start of the 19th century to the end of WWII and it's main attraction is the tombs here and the citadel. I did a bus tour which takes in half a dozen of the biggest tombs and the famous Thien Mu Pagoda - you can pick and choose which to go into, as they are US$3 each a pop extra (the pagoda is free). I am advised not to do the boat tour, which bizarrely is advised as a "must" in the lonely planet - for the most part the tombs aren't within walking distance of the river and the whole time on the boat you'll be pestered to buy things.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1201932300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1201932300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1201932300/tpod.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:28:26 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Halong Bay, Vietnam

That overnight trip to the bay was both cool and cold, heading into the picturesque 3,000 islands area of the coast of the country. You take a junker to one island containing quite spectacular grottos, and get a short stint about on a sea kayak if you're game to brave the temperature at this time of year.

I got friendly with two Aussies, a German and a Swiss on board which filled in what would have otherwise been a rather boring night - a bottle or two of rice vodka around here isn't too bad. You can buy alcohol from the floating kwik-e-marts (aka old ladies about the bay in boats who won't budge on their nflated price) but it's much better value to get it before you leave Hanoi. Expect to pay a corkage on any alcohol if they see you with it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202141880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202141880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nzgreenie/the_world_07.08/1202141880/tpod.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:26:24 -0500 3 months of travelling in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Central Asia

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Pack your winter woollies if you head to the north of Vietnam in January. Actually scratch that...what I should say is make sure you have them on when you walk off the plane. I take cold comfort in glancing around at fellow travellers shivering in their flip-flops and shorts who like me dressed for the hot, humid weather they left in Bangkok, and not the 6 degree airport terminal they arrived to. 40 very cold minutes later I am reunited with my bag and on my way to a hotel.

I strike up a pleasant conversation with Hang, a local who has arrived to be with her family for Tet, the Vietnamese equivalent of Chinese New Year. I'm so heartened by meeting such a friendly local barely off the plane, that I don't see coming the ripoff travel agent/hotel that I am dropped off at. It's my own fault for not checking with another agent for the price, but I am fleeced twice the face value for my train ticket south, and heavily overcharged for a trip to Ha Long bay. For penance I write out 100 times "Always, when you're travelling in this part of the world, get 3 quotes for your next onward journey".

Hanoi's streets flow with an overwhelming number of scooters and motorcycles and hardly a car in sight. It's noisy, it's incredible, and it takes a while to work out how to cross the street when nobody stops for you - I cheat and walk behind a local. There's a number of sights you can see in just one day; Hi Chi Minh's embalmed body is kept in a massive mausoleum next to his residence when he was alive - though I arrived too late to go inside and see the body. The Hanoi Hilton - aka the prison where Vietnam war prisoners were kept, has also been partly preserved, and whilst it concentrates mostly on the prison's use as a torture centre during the French Indochina war, also has a laughably propagandist section on how well the US pilots shot down were treated during their stay.

In hindsight, I should have headed to the city lake next to the massive night market in the evening before, where you can pick up an English speaking guide (usually a tourism student who wants to practice their English) who can take you round on the back of a motorcycle to help make some better sense of it all, and get you to places not in the guide book.
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